Riders Fume as Fire Shuts Down Red Line

WASHINGTON - An electrical fire in a subway tunnel caused long delays Thursday morning on Metro's Red Line. And many of the 75,000 inconvenienced passengers complained the transit agency was sorely lacking with information and help.

A short in a cable caused a fire in the tunnel between the Woodley Park and Dupont Circle stations around 7 a.m., forcing Metro to cancel service between the Van Ness-UDC and Farragut North stations.

"Our firefighters have to work very methodically, very safely. And the bottom line for us is to make sure that the people are taken care of," said District of Columbia Fire and EMS Department spokesman Alan Etter.

After more than an hour, service was restored to one track, which had to be shared by trains running in both directions. But late in the morning, that stretch was completely shut a second time while crews made repairs, and full service resumed shortly after noon. Further repairs were expected to take place early Friday, after the subway closes.

Commuters at Van Ness-UDC were tossed off trains and onto a packed Connecticut Avenue, where it was largely every rider for himself.

"It's just an ugly situation, I can't explain it any other way," said Metro's chief of rail operations Lemuel Proctor, adding it is very difficult to communicate with that many people with just a station manager. As for why more Metro employees were not at the closed stations to help, Proctor said they were stuck in traffic - along with many of the 25 extra buses sent in.

But Transit Police Chief Polly Hanson had little sympathy.

"If people were listening to some of the advice that we were giving, they would have had a plan for this morning," Hanson told members of the Metro Board during a Thursday meeting. Hanson said police have been handing out emergency preparedness brochures.

Asked later by The Associated Press to clarify her remarks, Hanson said people could have known to take the number 30 bus, or had phone numbers for taxi companies in their wallets.

"There are so many people who only know one way to drive to work," Hanson said.

(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)